Michael J. Hearn is Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Wellesley College. A member of the faculty since 1977, Professor Hearn lectures and teaches laboratories in Organic and Introductory Chemistry and directs student research projects. His own research interests focus on the development of new anti-tuberculosis agents, using the experimental methods of synthetic organic chemistry.
Professor Hearn received a B.A. degree in Chemistry from Rutgers University in 1971 with Highest Honors and Highest Distinction. His undergraduate honors societies included Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Lambda Upsilon and Delta Phi Alpha. At Yale University, he earned several graduate degrees in Chemistry, completing the Ph.D. in 1976. As a graduate student, he was awarded the Yale Prize Fellowship in Teaching and the Yale Chemistry Department Teaching Prize. He was a Postdoctoral Associate and Instructor in Chemistry at Yale (1976–77) prior to coming to Wellesley. In 1980–81, he was a Senior Visitor in the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England.
Professor Hearn has been principal author, with undergraduate student co-authors, of numerous research and review articles in organic chemistry in journals published in Great Britain, Europe and the United States. He is the Associate Editor of the widely respected independent journal Organic Preparations and Procedures International. He is especially interested in the application of organic chemistry to solving problems in human medicine, including the alleviation of such mycobacterial diseases as tuberculosis and leprosy. He collaborates on the development of new tuberculosis antimicrobial agents with physicians at the New York State Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York. He has worked extensively in the area of near-infrared spectroscopy, using it as an analytical tool to monitor the preparation of his anti-tuberculosis compounds.
Professor Hearn, a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists, is active in many professional societies for chemistry and microbiology, including the Coblentz Society, the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, the National Science Teachers Association, Sigma Xi, the American Society for Microbiology, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A National Councilor of the American Chemical Society, he has long served on the Board of Directors of that society's Northeastern section and has been Section Chair.
As lecturer, research advisor and mentor, Professor Hearn is particularly interested in helping students see for themselves the important connections between work in experimental science and other aspects of human endeavor. He is the recipient of the Pinanski Teaching Prize at Wellesley College.
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Profile last updated: 7/05